How do you write proposals that win new business?
This is a common question we hear from agencies. And many of the proposals we read are not compelling, are poorly organized and fail to stand out.
Many proposals focus more on the agency than on the prospect’s business and challenge. There is a trick to writing a more prospect-friendly proposal: make it even more about the prospect and their business. Here’s how.
The Prospect Friendly Written Proposal Outline
The following outline for creating written proposals can help any agency win more business.
Section 1: The Cover Letter
- Express enthusiasm and appreciation
- Recap the prospect’s business issues and implications
- And briefly highlight how your agency has addressed the same issues for specific clients (a high level nod to which clients and some results)
Section 2: Business Issues and Implications
- What we’ve heard from the client
- Identify the issues that need to be solved
- Agency analysis that adds great value and what it means to the client
- Key learning and opportunities developed from data & research as well as a review of the consumer, competition, industry & brand
- Key insights identified & developed
Section 4: Recommended Solutions
- Present solution using your strategic process framework
- Explain how it works
- Position your solution relative to the business issues and implications
Section 5: Case Studies
- Include an overview of the objectives, goals, work and results
- Present using the agency Philosophy and Strategic Process
- State how the case study is relevant to the prospect’s business issue and what learning can be applied to the prospect
- Explain why the approach was taken and how it exemplifies your agency philosophy
Section 6: Relevant Experience
- We have the right team!
- Bios of key executives AND day-to-day team
- Answer “why is this person on my business” (experience, skill set, other)
- Interaction Process: Include proven examples, processes, and tools for working with other agencies
Section 7: Agency Background
- Basics & positioning
- Capabilities (as relevant to the client’s issues)
- Related client experience (as relevant to the client’s issues)
Section 8: Next Steps
- Detailed proposal?
- Office visit?
Section 9: Appendices
- Estimate
- SOW
- Staffing plan
- Client-specific requests
Steve Boehler, founder, and partner at Mercer Island Group has led consulting teams on behalf of clients as diverse as Ulta Beauty, Microsoft, UScellular, Nintendo, Kaiser Permanente, Holland America Line, Stop & Shop, Qualcomm, Brooks Running, and numerous others. He founded MIG after serving as a division president in a Fortune 100 when he was only 32. Earlier in his career, Steve Boehler cut his teeth with a decade in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, leading brands like Tide, Pringles, and Jif.
Mercer Island Group helps marketers and agencies succeed. Company leadership is as much at home with marketers and their C-Suites as in an agency’s boardroom. With marketers, Mercer Island Group is a top 5 agency search consultancy covering all types of agency relationships (creative, media, web, PR, experiential) and assists marketers with marketing organization structure, workflow and critical skill development (briefing, creative evaluation & feedback, etc.). The company also supports leading and aspiring agencies with positioning, pitch and strategy training and pitch support.
